Echinacea purpurea cultivar Vintage Wine.
The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Echinacea plant, botanically known as Echinacea purpurea, and hereinafter referred to by the name xe2x80x98Vintage Winexe2x80x99.
The new Echinacea was discovered as a chance seedling of two unidentified selections of Echinacea purpurea, not patented. The new Echinacea was discovered and selected by the Inventor in 1997 as a single flowering plant in a controlled environment in Hummelo, The Netherlands.
Asexual reproduction of the new Echinacea by divisions was first conducted in Hummelo, The Netherlands in 1997. Since then, asexual reproduction by divisions has shown that the unique features of this new Echinacea are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
The cultivar Vintage Wine has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature and light intensity without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Vintage Winexe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Vintage Winexe2x80x99 as a new and distinct Echinacea:
1. Upright plant habit.
2. Freely flowering habit.
3. Red purple-colored ray florets and dark red-tipped disc florets.
Plants of the new Echinacea differ primarily from plants of the parent selections in ray and disc floret coloration.
Plants of the new Echinacea can be compared to plants of the Echinacea cultivar Magnus, not patented. However, plants of the new Echinacea have more upright ray florets than plants of the cultivar Magnus. In addition, plants of the new Echinacea and the cultivar Magnus differ in ray floret coloration.